So a worker at a Pierce County business tests positive for COVID. What happens next?

When the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department learns of a business with positive cases of COVID-19, a team known as the “facilities group” springs into action.

These health professionals, most of whom were reassigned from other roles within the agency to focus on the virus, work with employers in every industry to understand their pandemic protocols and potentially how to improve upon them.

The goal, said supervisor Christa Moor, is to minimize the risk of COVID-19 spreading in that particular workplace, whether through employees or patrons.

“We work with any facility in Pierce County — anything other than a private residence,” said Moor, a nurse who typically monitors immunization standards and compliance. That means nursing homes, homeless shelters, schools, day cares, restaurants, grocery stores, offices — “anywhere people are congregating.”

Not to be confused with contact tracers, who cold-call individuals known to have contracted the virus and those who might have come into contact with someone who has, the facilities group wants to ensure that businesses are paying attention.

The health department does not reveal which businesses have reported positive cases, unless that business employs more than 30 people and has had 10 cases over a 14-day period — what the county considers an outbreak. Businesses are required by the state Department of Health to alert their local agency if they uncover two or more positive cases within 14 days, but the public is not privy to that information.

A recently released report of outbreaks by industry from June 1 to August 8 pulled back the curtain on part of that mystery. Based on that data, transportation/shipping/delivery leads Pierce County in outbreaks with 11, plus 59 related cases, followed by retail/grocery with 15 outbreaks and 48 related cases. The food service and restaurant industry has dealt with seven outbreaks and 17 related cases, while bars and nightclubs have had four outbreaks and 11 cases since June when they were permitted to reopen under Phase 2 guidelines.

Pierce County’s farming and food manufacturing industries were, according to the report, largely spared from the fate of nearby Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties, where outbreaks have torn through agricultural communities. Here, they had only two outbreaks and five related cases from June to August.

Each industry has its challenges, said Moor, adding, “Working with a nursing home is very different than working with a restaurant. I wouldn’t say one is more complicated for us to do than another — they’re just different.”

The message offered to businesses dealing with cases of COVID-19, said Moor, is essentially the same one the health department reinforces to the public: Wear a mask. Sanitize. Stand six feet apart. Keep your gatherings small. Stay close to home.

“That’s our messaging that we share with everybody regardless of what your role is in the community,” she told The News Tribune in an exclusive interview. “We know how important those things are, and they make a difference.”

Most businesses say they are readily sanitizing and enforcing social distancing and mask requirements, she added.

“A lot of them are already doing the things they need to be doing,” she said. “I think they understand that business owners need to do what they can do within the workplace. We talk them through steps and strategies to keep their employees and patrons safe.”

SO AN EMPLOYEE TESTS POSITIVE ...

There are three major teams working within the health department on the COVID-19 crisis: case investigators, contact tracers and the facilities group.

After learning of a positive COVID-19 case or an outbreak at a specific location, the investigators step in first. Their conversations lead to contacts, which are then handed off to the tracers. Both of these teams feed information about workplaces to Moor and the facilities group.

Businesses also frequently call of their own volition to report that an employee has tested positive.

“Every resident in Pierce County that tests positive for COVID-19 does get a phone call from us,” said Moor, referring broadly to the health department.

Everyone is asked where they work, though some are reluctant to share that information. When they do, the facilities team knows which businesses to call and, ideally, how to reach the owner or manager.

At that point, “It could be a really quick conversation — 15 minutes if they’re kind of already on top of it — or it could be as long as an hour depending on what’s going on there,” she said.

“When we call a business, we find the appropriate person to talk to. We get that person on the phone. We make sure they know they’ve had a positive case or multiple and they’re comfortable with when those cases are clear to work. We work with them to identify any close contact so that anybody who is a close contact can be quarantined for 14 days. We work with them through that process,” she explained. “Then we just kind of have a conversation about things they’re already doing to prevent transmission and make recommendations — anything we want them to change or to add.”

The questions they ask mirror Washington state’s reopening guidance for businesses.

Is the business screening employees for symptoms or possible contact with COVID-19 before shifts? When an employee shows symptoms, is the business sending them home straight away? Are managers enforcing masks and social distancing? What is the business’s sick leave policy?

“Most businesses that we talk to are doing some combination and most if not all of them,” said Moor. “Sometimes it’s just looking for suggestions as to how to do things better.”

Those improvements might entail limiting entry points to a single door, for example, to ease the prospect of screening every employee, or staggering lunch breaks so coworkers don’t have the chance to eat lunch together.

The other side has questions, too.

“The response we get from businesses is overwhelmingly positive because they wanna do the right thing, so when we do get on the phone with them, they have a lot of questions,” said Moor. “It’s a good opportunity to have that human connection. There’s a lot of information out there and it’s hard for them to go through everything.”

Asked if her team had encountered any red flags during these calls — say, a business that was obviously flippant to the guidelines — she replied, “We haven’t had to do that yet. If we had a conversation and we really felt like this business needed extra support, we do have folks who would go out into the field.”

(Routine restaurant inspections continue, she noted, and COVID-19 expectations play into those visits.)

Are there businesses so clueless that they are shocked to hear the news from the health department?

“Thankfully, it’s not common,” said Moor. “The majority of businesses already know by the time we get them on the phone.”

Investigators and contact tracers encourage individuals to tell their employers to avoid this kind of shock, she added.

OK, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SPREAD?

As cases in Pierce County spiked this summer to above their April peak, the facilities group experienced an equal ballooning of its workload.

Most businesses are dealing with “relatively small clusters” of cases, said Moor, but some are struggling with bigger outbreaks that correlate with the county’s — and the nation’s — overall inability to stymie COVID-19.

Recently her team, which itself grew in tandem with the rise in cases, has worked with “a lot of new businesses” and a few repeats. All are provided with links to online resources and contact information to follow up should they require further assistance.

Asked when the facilities group would follow up, Moor said, “If we become aware of additional cases, we’ll do another check-in. If we work with a business and we do identify some things to implement, or they have concerns, it may prompt another phone call in a week or so. Only when we feel it’s necessary.”

Businesses don’t have to wait to talk with the health department either, she said. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals “dedicated specifically to … stopping transmission of disease” are ready at the phones seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“The majority of businesses in Pierce County are doing the things they need to do to keep their employees and their patrons safe,” insisted Moor. “We’re just seeing spread in the community at the moment, and people work in this community, so we’re going to see cases in businesses increase as well.”

To stop the spread of COVID-19, everybody — from workplace to home and everywhere in between — needs to buy into “all those basic things,” the 2020 checklist: Wear a mask. Sanitize. Stand six feet apart. Keep your gatherings small. Stay close to home.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.